The effectiveness of public health advertisements to promote health: a randomized-controlled trial on 794,000 participants

Abstract

As public health advertisements move online, it becomes possible to run inexpensive randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) thereof. Here we report the results of an online RCT to improve food choices and integrate exercise into daily activities of internet users. People searching for pre-specified terms were randomized to receive one of several professionally developed campaign advertisements or the “status quo” (ads that would otherwise have been served). For 1-month pre-intervention and post-intervention, their searches for health-promoting goods or services were recorded. Our results show that 48% of people who were exposed to the ads made future searches for weight loss information, compared with 32% of those in the control group—a 50% increase. The advertisements varied in efficacy. However, the effectiveness of the advertisements may be greatly improved by targeting individuals based on their lifestyle preferences and/or sociodemographic characteristics, which together explain 49% of the variation in response to the ads. These results demonstrate that online advertisements hold promise as a mechanism for changing population health behaviors. They also provide researchers powerful ways to measure and improve the effectiveness of online public health interventions. Finally, we show that corporations that use these sophisticated tools to promote unhealthy products can potentially be outbid and outmaneuvered.

Online advertising: healthier ads promote healthier living

People who see specific health-promoting messages after searching online for weight-related terms are more likely to subsequently search for information on weight loss interventions. A team led by Elad Yom-Tov from Microsoft Research Israel in Herzeliya conducted a randomized trial involving 794,000 users of the Bing search engine who queried terms related to weight, diet, and exercise. Randomly chosen subjects were shown advertisements designed to promote healthy living, while all other users were shown standard ads. The researchers found that 48% of people exposed to the health-promoting advertisements made searches within the next month for weight loss information, compared with only 32% of those in the control group. The findings suggest that targeted online messaging can help change population health behaviors.